If you want to understand how our world works, the periodic table holds
the answers. When the seventh row of the periodic table of elements was
completed in June 2016 with the addition of four final
elements--nihonium, moscovium, tennessine, and oganesson--we at last
could identify all the ingredients necessary to construct our world.
In Elemental, chemist and science educator Tim James provides an
informative, entertaining, and quirkily illustrated guide to the table
that shows clearly how this abstract and seemingly jumbled graphic is
relevant to our day-to-day lives.
James tells the story of the periodic table from its ancient Greek
roots, when you could count the number of elements humans were aware of
on one hand, to the modern alchemists of the twentieth and twenty-first
centuries who have used nuclear chemistry and physics to generate new
elements and complete the periodic table. In addition to this, he
answers questions such as: What is the chemical symbol for a human? What
would happen if all of the elements were mixed together? Which liquid
can teleport through walls? Why is the medieval dream of transmuting
lead into gold now a reality?
Whether you're studying the periodic table for the first time or are
simply interested in the fundamental building blocks of the
universe--from the core of the sun to the networks in your
brain--Elemental is the perfect guide.
